Dennis Wilson was the drummer in The Beach Boys, the wild Wilson brother to Brian’s musical genius and Carl’s calming influence.

This album was first released in 1977, but it’s been out of print since 1991. Now it gets its deserved deluxe reissue, and gives those who know the album’s story better than they know the contents a chance to hear what the fuss is about.

Unlike many albums immersed in musical folklore, POB stands up to any analysis, and is something of a masterpiece. Sure, it’s flawed, but with songs as beautiful as Dreamer, Forever My Friend, River Song and Pacific Ocean Blues, any small minus points really don’t matter. Rating: 8/10

(Review by Andy Welch)

2) Feeder – Silent Cry: With something of a full frontal sonic assault in the opening track We Are The People, Feeder certainly announce on their new album that they’re back and ready to rock. For a band with some relatively laidback moments in their canon, it’s certainly a refreshingly no-nonsense approach, and first single Miss You harks back to the vintage Feeder of Just A Day and Buck Rogers.

At the heart of this euphoric blend is Grant Nicholas’ achingly heartfelt voice, possibly still influenced by the sad suicide of original drummer Jon Lee a few years ago. This is definitely one for the old school fans, and the sort of impressive collection that could easily win some new fans too. Rating: 7/10

(Review by Patrick Gates)

3) Sara Bareilles – Little Voice: As the opening chords of hit single Love Song sound, you know exactly what territory you’re in with Sara Bareilles. There can be no denying the song is a radio-friendly gem, a slightly bitter tale of not wanting to beg a lover to stay around.

The rest of Little Voice fails to live up to the promise of the opening track, but not by much. Slow ballads such as album closer Gravity and City do little for Bareilles’ voice, which sounds better over more lively music, but with the likes of Morningside, Bottle It Up and Vegas, she may just buck the trend of becoming a one-hit wonder. Rating: 7/10

(Review by Andy Welch)

4) The Music – Strength In Numbers: The Music have returned following a four-year hiatus. This album is less catchy and punchy than its predecessors, but singer Rob Harvey’s soaring vocals on tracks like Drugs and Get Through are very atmospheric. The involvement of super-producer Flood and Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll involvement also has a lot to do with that, and their respective house music influences are abundant.

Overall it’s still energetic stuff. The highly charged guitars and pounding beats will please existing fans, but might not get The Music many new ones. Rating: 7/10

(Review by Mark Cook)

5) A Fine Frenzy – One Cell In The Sea: A Fine Frenzy is the debut from American singer-songwriter Alison Sudol. While listening to the album, it’s easy to imagine what sort of scene in which American drama they would best soundtrack – it’s a safe bet the makers of Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs own this album. In fact, some songs were used in episodes of One Tree Hill, while others made it onto House. This isn’t meant as a criticism, but it does point to how immediately accessible and emotional some of her music is.

Some tracks, such as The Minnow And The Trout, go past being accessible and can’t be described as anything other than bland. Rating: 6/10

(Review by Andy Welch)

6) Weezer – Weezer: Album number six from Rivers Cuomo and co (the third self-titled release after the ‘Blue’ and ‘Green’ albums) – the affectionately dubbed ‘Red Album’ sees the band in upbeat mood, banging out tunes which stand toe-to-toe with the catchy classics that have made them geek-rock legends.

Opening track Troublemaker is as infectious as the common cold while lead single Pork And Beans harks back to the crunching riffs of old. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived is perhaps the most ambitious song the band have ever attempted and Heart Songs one of the most reflective, every one making for compelling listening. Not since 1996’s Pinkerton have Weezer sounded so good. Rating: 8/10

(Review by Nick Howes)

7) Trouble Over Tokyo – Pyramides: Think of tech-savvy bedsit types making music on a much-loved laptop and you almost always come up with a mental image of Daniel Bedingfield, crooning Gotta Get Thru This in between mouthfuls of Pot Noodle. But behind this frankly alarming scene is a more engaging form of DIY dance music. Trouble Over Tokyo’s Christopher Taylor is the poster boy.

Here, the Anglo-Austrian producer sings, plays and programmes every note and beat in a heady mix of Kid A-style noodling, cascading arpeggios a la Muse and a shamelessly funky falsetto. Too immediate, perhaps, to have any real staying power, but it’s a relevant grab for attention nonetheless. Rating: 7/10

(Review by Rory Dollard)

8) NERD – Seeing Sounds: Over the past few years, The Neptunes – aka Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo with their record producer hats on – have made some of the best, most original music there is. Their work for Kelis, Snoop, ODB and others has added up to those great pop moments when the sound of the future was also topping the charts.

In their band mode as NERD, their output never felt second best either; Lapdance and She Wants To Move were dancefloor classics. Alas, time moves fast in their field and the third NERD album sounds pretty dated. For the most part it’s slick to the point of vacancy and even catchier numbers like Everybody Nose are clunking. Rating: 5/10

(Review by Alex Sarll)

9) Various – Girls In The City: This two-CD compilation of tracks hints at a Sex And The City connection and aims at a ‘shoe-shopping, bar-hopping and name-dropping’ audience. In actual fact, it’s a roughly-hewn mish-mash of vaguely themed songs mostly either by or about women with hits from the 1960s through to fairly contemporary times.

Some modern day classics from Outkast, Destiny’s Child and Amy Winehouse mingle with golden oldies by Petula Clark, Roy Orbison (Pretty Woman of course) and Nina Simone for a ramshackle but upbeat effect. A not particularly coherent selection of tracks, but still fun if you’re not feeling too adventurous. Rating: 6/10

(Review by Delia Barnard)

10) Joseph Arthur – Vagabond Skies: Vagabond Skies is the third in a series of four EPs from American singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur building up to the release of his seventh album later this year.

It seems writer’s block is not something that affects the Ohio-born troubadour. More laid-back than some of his other work, each of the six acoustic-based tracks tips its hat in obvious directions – Dylan, Rolling Stones, Ryan Adams – and therein lies the real problem – there’s nothing on offer here that can’t be gotten somewhere else. That said, She Paints Me Gold is a gem. Rating: 6/10